United States v. Johnny Arnold Halliburton (95-5648) and Nancy Jane Welborn (95-5649)

RYAN, J. (pp. 114-117), delivered a separate. dissenting opinion.

DAVID A. NELSON, Circuit Judge.

On November 30, 1993, Congress adopted legislation making it a federal crime to steal a firearm from a licensed firearms dealer. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(u), enacted by Pub.L. No. 103-159, § 302(c). About a year after the law was passed the defendants pleaded guilty to having committed such a crime. They were sentenced in April of 1995 under the most recent edition of the United States Sentencing Commission’s Guidelines Manual, an edition issued on November 1, 1994.

The Sentencing Commission had not…